The Dutch skaters Roxanne van Hemert and Koen Verweij were crowned ISU World Junior Champions this week-end in the Polish resort town of Zakopane, which welcomed a record-breaking number of 128 skaters to its new artificial rink.
For the first time, World Junior Championships were also held on the individual distances. The two Dutch overall champions could also bring home two single distance victories each, while there were also single distance championships for their compatriots Yvonne Nauta and Pim Cazemier, for Olga Fatkulina of Russia, Mitchell Whitmore of the United States and Jan Daldossi of Italy.
Ladies
On the 500m, Olga Fatkulina was the fastest both in the first race on Friday (which was the one that counted for the allround combination) and in the second race on Sunday. In Sunday’s excellent conditions she further improved the track record she had already set in the first race, below the 40-second barrier to 39.85. Jee-Min Ahn (KOR) had the second-best time in both races, and Yukana Nishina (JPN) was third in both races.
Roxanne van Hemert almost clinched the all-round championship on the first day by winning the 1500m with a margin of victory of 2.37 seconds. This meant she held a lead of over a point in the overall standings. Second was Yvonne Nauta, who had also taken second place in the 1500m championships. 500m winner Fatkulina was third on the 1500m, but as she was not competing in the all-round, the third place overall after the first day was held by 16-year-old Karolina Erbanová (CZE). When she went on to win the 1000m, van Hemert not only secured her second individual distance title, she also expanded her lead on her competitors for the overall title. The skaters who came closest to her on the distance were Hege Bøkko (NOR), who had otherwise been suffering from skate and back problems, and Fatkulina who made her third podium.
This meant that van Hemert entered the 3000m with a comfortable lead, and her overall victory was never really threatened. When she started, the lead was held by Do-Yeoung Park of Korea in 4:24.82, and although van Hemert looked poised to beat this time, she ran out of steam and finished in 4:25.98 with a 39.7 final lap. She later stated that she was so tired she could not even lift her arms over her head to celebrate her world championships. Her pairmate Yvonne Nauta, who had been even with van Hemert only two laps from the finish, beat her with more than four seconds on those two laps and took the 3000m gold in 4:21.54, along with the silver medal overall. In the end there was also a surprise for the home crowd: Katarzyna Woźniak had skated evenly throughout the championships, and finished with a strong 3000m, which proved good enough for bronze overall.
Men
Mitchell Whitmore (USA) became the world junior champion for men on the 500m, and he laid the foundation for this victory with an impressive track record of 36.44 in his first race. Canadian Richard Maclennan had the best time in the second race, but he was too far behind after the first race and had to settle for silver over the two races. Another Canadian, Guillaume Blais-Dufour, took the third place. In the first 500m, Jan Daldossi of Italy had the fastest opener with 9.99, but fell – but on Sunday he made up for his misfortune, winning the 1000m in 1:12.35. Jonathan Kuck was second, Roman Krech (KAZ) third.
If the ladies’ contest seemed almost decided after the first day, the men’s contest was, on the contrary, very close: After a surprisingly good 3000m Jonathan Kuck (USA) held a very narrow lead over the pre-tournament favourite Koen Verweij (NED), with Brian Hansen (USA) and Pim Cazemier (NED) also in contention. Verweij took the world championship on the 3000m as expected, with Cazemier and Kuck completing the podium, but his margin of victory was not as large as he would have hoped. The 1500m result made very little change in the overall standings: Pim Cazemier won in 1:52.66, which meant he climbed to a temporary third place overall, but Kuck and Verweij stayed very close to one another. The two remaining distance medals went to Roman Krech and Jan Daldossi, two skaters who were not competing for the overall title.
So it all came down to the final quartet on the 5000m, with the two Dutchmen Verweij and Cazemier skating simultaneously with the two Americans Kuck and Hansen. The Americans long had the best split times, but towards the end Verweij showed himself as the strongest 5000m skater, winning both the title on this distance and the overall championships. Jonathan Kuck had to settle for silver overall and bronze on the 5000m. The silver on this distance went to Brian Hansen, a result which also took him past Cazemier in the overall standings and gave him bronze.
Team Pursuit
The team pursuit contests were won by the Dutch team both among the ladies (for the eighth time in a row, they have won this competition every time since it was introduced in the junior championships in 2002) and the men (for the fifth time in a row). The ladies’ team consisted of Roxanne van der Hemert and Jorieke van der Geest from last year’s winning team, supplemented by Yvonne Nauta. The Japanese team came second, the Koreans third. Among the men, Koen Verweij could also defend last year’s victory, in a team with Pim Cazemier and Lucas van Alphen. The German team was second, USA third.
ISU World Junior Championships – Zakopane (POL) – Medal Winners
Ladies
500m (Friday + Sunday)
|
1 |
Olga Fatkulina |
RUS |
40.23TR + 39.85TR = 80.080 |
|
2 |
Jee-Min Ahn |
KOR |
40.36 + 40.35 = 80.710 |
|
3 |
Yukana Nishina |
JPN |
40.52 + 40.73 = 81.250 |
1500m (Friday)
|
1 |
Roxanne van Hemert |
NED |
2:02.91 |
|
2 |
Yvonne Nauta |
NED |
2:05.28 |
|
3 |
Olga Fatkulina |
RUS |
2:05.54 |
1000m (Saturday)
|
1 |
Roxanne van Hemert |
NED |
1:20.55TR |
|
2 |
Hege Bøkko |
NOR |
1:20.62 |
|
3 |
Olga Fatkulina |
RUS |
1:20.71 |
3000m (Saturday)
|
1 |
Yvonne Nauta |
NED |
4:21.54TR |
|
2 |
Do-Yeoung Park |
KOR |
4:24.82 |
|
3 |
Roxanne van Hemert |
NED |
4:25.98 |
Team Pursuit
|
1 |
Nauta, van der Geest, van Hemert |
NED |
3:16.30 |
|
2 |
Kiyama, Takagi, Takayama |
JPN |
3:19.86 |
|
3 |
Ahn, Lim, Park |
KOR |
3:20.18 |
Overall
|
1 |
Roxanne van Hemert |
NED |
166.425 |
|
2 |
Yvonne Nauta |
NED |
167.595 |
|
3 |
Katarzyna Woźniak |
POL |
169.492 |
Men
500m (Friday + Saturday)
|
1 |
Mitchell Whitmore |
USA |
36.44TR + 36.68 = 73.120 |
|
2 |
Richard Maclennan |
CAN |
37.15 + 36.63 = 73.780 |
|
3 |
Guillaume Blais-Dufour |
CAN |
36.82 + 37.01 = 73.830 |
3000m (Friday)
|
1 |
Koen Verweij |
NED |
3:52.84TR |
|
2 |
Pim Cazemier |
NED |
3:53.63 |
|
3 |
Jonathan Kuck |
USA |
3:54.22 |
1500m (Saturday)
|
1 |
Pim Cazemier |
NED |
1:52.66TR |
|
2 |
Roman Krech |
KAZ |
1:53.21 |
|
3 |
Jan Daldossi |
ITA |
1:53.26 |
5000m (Saturday)
|
1 |
Koen Verweij |
NED |
6:47.54TR |
|
2 |
Brian Hansen |
USA |
6:51.60 |
|
3 |
Jonathan Kuck |
USA |
6:52.81 |
1000m (Sunday)
|
1 |
Jan Daldossi |
ITA |
1:12.35TR |
|
2 |
Jonathan Kuck |
USA |
1:12.43 |
|
3 |
Roman Krech |
KAZ |
1:12.70 |
Team Pursuit
|
1 |
Cazemier, van Alphen, Verweij |
NED |
3:59.21 |
|
2 |
Beckert, Hirschbichler, Kleyling |
GER |
4:05.39 |
|
3 |
Ducker, Hansen, Kuck |
USA |
4:01.16 |
Overall
|
1 |
Koen Verweij |
NED |
154.642 |
|
2 |
Jonathan Kuck |
USA |
155.160 |
|
3 |
Brian Hansen |
USA |
155.639 |
